Mixed Performance

The legislature endorses the state of emergency bills but fails to give a way out to the insurgency

By  A CORRESPONDENT

As the 21st session of the parliament drew to an end last Wednesday, political leaders had hard time to show their report card to the public. "How will we respond to the people when they ask about the outcome of this session?" asked Badri Prasad Mandal, leader of the terai-based Nepal Sadbhavana Party (NSP) addressing the House in Hindi language. Added Surya Bahadur Thapa, former Prime Minister and President of Rstriya Prajatantra Party (RPP), "The government behaved like an Ostrich throughout the session and backtracked from its commitment of amending the constitution. But we are not going to leave it alone."

Leader of the main opposition, Madhav Kumar Nepal, also criticized the government for not initiating actions for socio-economic reforms. "Had the constitution been amended, it would have opened doors to resolve a number of problems in the country including the Maoist insurgency," he added.

All don't agree. "It would have been unfortunate to amend the constitution during the state of emergency when people's fundamental rights remain suspended," said Purna Man Shakya, a constitutional lawyer and chairman of the Society for Constitutional and Parliamentary Exercise (SCOPE). "At least the political parties should wait till the state of emergency comes to an end."

The 21st session of the parliament concluded last week by passing 16 different bills including the much talked about anti-terrorism and corruption control bills. Interestingly, on the last day of the session, the House of Representatives unanimously rejected the amendments made by the Upper House on the corruption control bill and bill to amend the CIAA (Commission for Investigation on Abuse of Authority) Act. One of the amendments made by the National Assembly included that those proved guilty for committing corruption by the court would be barred from contesting elections for five years.  The 21st session, the first after the declaration of the state of emergency in November, ratified the government's decision to impose emergency by more than two-thirds majority. For the first time, all the political parties represented in the parliament also agreed to launch a joint political campaign all over the country against the Maoist insurgency.

"The consensus among the political parties is a positive outcome. But we could not see due seriousness among the political parties to find a solution to pressing problems like the insurgency," said Shakya.